Rhetoric in My LIfe

I wake up from a short night of dreamless sleep to some random radio station playing Desert Rose by Sting, which is a song that continuously reminds me that I don't own a Jaguar (I'll come back to explain this later). I turn on my computer, pulled up my Facebook account, and saw that I had zero notifications; but that's okay, because I'll waste my time instead by clicking on the Halo Reach ad that Facebook supplies me to make me feel special. I pull up Pandora for some "getting dressed" theme music, and I sit through a thirty second video about something I couldn't afford.

I skip down my stairs feigning excitement for the uneventful day that lay ahead. I grin at the Get Him To The Greek movie poster hanging on our ceiling and shake my head in embarrassment at the Justin Bieber picture showcased in our living room. I take a deep breath as I reach my front door, preparing myself for the chilled morning air, and begin my journey up the hills of death.

Crossing College Green, I see the military statue saluting our soldiers who serve our nation and look up to the Alumni Gateway to read: "So depart that daily thou mayest better serve thy fellowmen thy country and thy God." I continue walking down Court Street, I see that the College Bookstore is now renting out books, I see the neon open light of Perk's. I catch a glimpse of the Chipotle's metallic store front and my stomach growls at me in disapproval for passing. I see the Athena signs yelling, "Free popcorn on Wednesdays!" I even see that the costume shop is having a huge poster sale (fittingly enough this advertisement was on a poster as well). I finally get to my one destination of the day, the bank, and as I go to deposit my check I see a flier for the OU Volleyball game that day. I shrug my shoulders and say, "Sounds good to me."

Reflecting on what I saw
This is a simple day in my life full of rhetorical situations. Rhetorical situations (in a simplified explanation) consist of images or objects that attempt to persuade you to buy, sell, act, think, etc. The Halo Reach ad wants me to go out and buy the game when it is released. Pandora's ad wants me to go out and get business cards printed from an online company, and even the movie poster on my ceiling was originally made in the hopes of pushing me to go see that movie (which I did).


The most effective rhetoric I encountered was definitely the slight glimpse of Chipotle's restaurant front. I believe that I found this to be so powerfully persuasive, because I have an emotional connection between their brand and the most delicious burritos of my life. On the other hand, the most ineffective rhetoric I encountered was the Justin Bieber poster that is advertising his new album, because of my disdain for his face being present in my house (I think one of my housemates secretly love him). Emotional connections are key when it comes to the success and failure of an image's persuasiveness.

Back to Desert Rose
Remember when I mentioned Sting's Desert Rose in the beginning of this post? Ever since I've seen the video on YouTube, it reminds me that you will never be able to get away from rhetorical situations. This is actually more of a commercial for Jaguar than it is a music video. In order to prove my point, below is the link to the music video (embedding was disabled) and then the Jaguar commercial that features Sting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjHkj-uSt_Y

What is your reaction to this video? What are your feelings?

Why does this matter?
It's mind-boggling to think about how many things we encounter each day that attempt to persuade us to either buy a product, to do something, or even to feel a certain way. Even between the time I woke up and ran to the bank, I encountered online ads, commercials, posters, fliers, patriotic messages, signs, and even just a brand that caused a bodily reaction on its very sight.

We all know that our lives are full of objects attempting to persuade us, so why should you think about it? Well, Victor Villanueva, Jr. said it best, "So much of what we receive from others–from family and friends to 30-second blurbs on TV–is intended to persuade. Recognizing how this is done gives greater power to choose." Choice, this is why it is so important, because if you don't take the time to realize that these things are attempting to persuade you, then your freedom of choice could be lost. Seem a little extreme? What if the ads you saw everyday were setting standards instead? What if everyone had to look like the Victoria Secret models? This is what we stand to see become a reality if we keep ourselves from realizing the image rhetoric in our lives.